Tressell ward report (November 2016)

Ore Valley development

Although not strictly in Tressell, or at least only part of it, there does now seem to be some sign that the whole Ore Valley site will finally be developed. This was acquired by the now defunct South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) for the Millennium Communities housing project. This was delayed, with only one part (the housing around Ore Station) ever being developed – the rest was overtaken by the recession and never happened. However, increasing land values in Hastings are beginning to change that. The old Ore Business Park (off Farley Bank) is already being developed. The Frederick Road site (the ‘road to nowhere’) has been sold to Gemselect and will be developed soon. And now the Stills factory site (above the old power station) is under offer. A land trust called ‘Heart of Hastings’ has also been established with the aim of involving local people in community self-build on the old power station site – land contamination makes this the most difficult site to develop commercially.
In the picture, the land shown is: Stills site (orange), protected green space (green), power station site (yellow), Frederick Road site (red), Ore Business Park (blue). A proposed greenway cycle route is shown in purple.

So finally, almost 20 years since the land acquisition began, it looks like the Ore Valley housing scheme might be realised.

Frederick Road floods again!

Heavy rain (on 3rd November) once again led to flooding in Frederick Road, which had still not subsided the following morning. Tania Charman, the Tressell and Old Hastings county councillor, will contact East Sussex County Council about that – it’s usually caused by a blockage in the culvert that takes the Speckled Wood stream down to the Alexandra Park stream (the highway drains run into this culvert too).

Door-knocking in Victoria Avenue

We’ve also been back out knocking on doors and delivering our local newsletters, this time to Victoria Avenue. To see all the local newsletters we’ve delivered over the last two years, go to the Tressell Councillors website.